Business owners are talking about the Obamacare surcharge – an additional charge added to a restaurant or retail store bill to cover the cost of mandatory participation in Obama’s health care scheme that will be fully implemented in January 2014.

On Wednesday, the Daily Mailran an interview with John Mertz, a restauranteur in Florida who owns 40 Denny’s restaurants and the Hurricane Grill & Wings franchise. Merz told the British newspaper he will add a five percent surcharge to customers’ bills and plans to reduce his employees’ hours in order to pay for the so-called Affordable Care Act.

Mertz said adding the surcharge and cutting hours is “the only alternative. I’ve got to pass on the cost to the customer.” The business owner said he will hold a meeting in December and tell employees “that because of Obamacare, we are going to be cutting front-of-the-house employees to under 30 hours, effective immediately.”

Liberals went ballistic on Papa John’s Pizza CEO John Schnatter earlier this week when he said the pizza business would reduce the hours employees work to offset the cost of Obamacare.

On the Monday night edition of The Ed Show on MSNBC, host Ed Schultz lambasted the Papa John’s CEO. “Schnatter lives in a 40,000-square-foot mansion with a 22-car garage, and this guy doesn’t want to give pizza delivery workers health insurance?” Schultz said.

Tommy Christopher, writing for the Mediaite.com website, said Schnatter’s wealth is “ostentatious” and accused him of “cheaptitude” and “begrudging his employees a dime’s worth of health insurance” while he lives in a “ridiculous estate,” writes Randy Hall.

“The sad part of all this is that while businesses will struggle to stay afloat in the face of higher taxes and health care insurance, the din of liberals’ shouts criticizing them for that will get louder as we continue to sink to the bottom of the Obama economy,” Hall points out.

The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) told CNSNews that other retailers may soon adopt the idea of making customers and employees pay for Obamacare.

“Clearly, you are seeing what real people are doing with costly situations. This is no different than the airline carriers adding a bag fee or noting the TSA extra expense,” NFIB spokesman Kevan Chapman told CNSNews.

“I suspect this Denny’s owner wants his customers to understand why their costs are going up and what they must do to handle the cost increase.”

“Frankly, they are just being honest with the customer. It’s possible you may see more of this as employers begin major preparation for the law.”

Employers state Obamacare imposed at gunpoint will increase business costs and impoverish workers. A Towers Watson survey of employers found that 90 percent said they believe Obamacare “will increase their organization’s health care benefits costs.” A 88 percent said they will pass the increased cost on to employees by requiring them to contribute more to company health plans, according to the Heartland Institute.